Hockey costs continue to rise as participation drops

Posted Feb 9, 2012 By Emma Jackson

EMC sports - As sports participation among children continues to decline, the rising cost of playing hockey is forcing Canada's game to take a hit.

According to Statistics Canada, sports participation dropped six per cent between 1992 and 2005, to 51 per cent.

While there are many barriers to participating in sports, StatsCan noted that cost can be a major limitation.

In 2005, two-parent households with children spent an average of $579 on sports and athletic equipment during the year. That number does not include related sports expenses such as facility rentals, transportation to sports events, club memberships and competition entry fees.

"In light of such costs, it is not surprising that sports participation is most prevalent among children from high-income households at 68 per cent, and lowest among children from lower income households, at 44 per cent," wrote Warren Clark, author of Statistics Canada's Kids' Sport report published in 2008.

The problem is augmented in the minor hockey world, where parents of a single six-year-old Timbit hockey player can spend as much as $450 in registration fees, on top of hundreds of dollars in equipment costs, tournament fees and costs for practice time.

As kids grow up and become more competitive, the fees can rise exponentially to as much as $4,000 per six-month season.

A study by the Royal Bank of Canada found that 38 per cent of hockey families spend more than $1,000 on hockey each year. In the same study, surveyed parents listed lack of financial support from businesses and lack of volunteers as the biggest challenges facing their local hockey community.

FINANCIAL HELP

City of Ottawa recreation planner and KidSport Ottawa board member Travis Martin said kids in low-income situations rely on community programs, charitable funding and other financial grants to access sports.

That's especially the case with hockey.

"In terms of equipment, hockey is probably one of the most expensive sports. There's just more pieces (to buy)," Martin said.

Soccer, baseball and swimming require very little equipment by comparison, and even playing football is more accessible because clubs keep their equipment year to year instead of requiring players to provide their own.

"Football equipment fees are virtually nothing. Hockey clubs don't do that," he said.

Support programs like KidSport, the city of Ottawa's Hand in Hand program and Canadian Tire's Jumpstart are widely used to help kids access the sports they want to play, Martin added.

"I administer sport programming in an after-school context, and what I hear is that if not for these types of programs they wouldn't have any access to sports," he said.

With all these costs, it's no surprise that participation in comparatively inexpensive soccer programs soared on the back of hockey's decline between 1992 and 2005 according to Statistics Canada.

Where hockey and soccer were tied at 12 per cent participation rates for boys and girls ages five to 14 in 1992, by 2005 soccer participation had jumped to 20 per cent while hockey had dipped to 11 per cent.

At KidSport in Ottawa, which offers up to $350 in registration and equipment funding for kids in low-income situations, only 13 kids received grants to play hockey in 2011 while 407 received grants for soccer.

Hockey culture also drives up the cost, said Jason Creally, who created Community Engage, a for-profit fundraising website that allows hockey families to get exclusive deals on equipment while sending a percentage back to their child's hockey team.

He said even with young teams there's an element of "keeping up with the Joneses."

If one player on the team gets private skill-building lessons or a top-of-the-line Under Armour shirt, he said other parents feel pressured to do the same.

"I'm starting to get a vibe already that is it a very competitive and expensive endeavour and parents really don't say no to too many costs," said Creally, who enrolled his oldest of three sons in the Leitrim minor hockey association this year. "Where do you draw the line?"

Hockey Day in Canada is Saturday, Feb. 11.

emma.jackson@metroland.com